Google going in to China doesn't change anything in China itself. They will only be allowed back in under CCP-imposed terms. So I disagree that this is bad from that PoV.

The PoV where this does become bad is where we might see an influence in other markets seeing this capitulation by Google and then also requiring censorship in their terms. And not necessarily the Irans or NKs of the world, but the likes of India, Brazil, etc. who might see value in requiring some censorship.

Part of the One Belt One Road initiative is not only the development of economic and trade ties, but the projection of the idea that more authoritarian, centrally-governed forms of government that de-emphasize tenets like freedom of political criticism are valid ways to rule a country in the 21st century, and that adhering to this system, as opposed to general western liberalism, could have major economic advantages to countries willing to play China's game.

Google is not happy with admitting they've plateau'd in their growth. They are willing to compromise their values to grow at any cost.

They've systematically watered down and walked back from all the things they said they would adhere to in their IPO prospectus:

Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. We believe that the most effective, and ultimately the most profitable, way to accomplish our mission is to put the needs of our users first. We have found that offering a high-quality user experience leads to increased traffic and strong word-of-mouth promotion. Our dedication to putting users first is reflected in three key commitments we have made to our users:

• We will do our best to provide the most relevant and useful search results possible, independent of financial incentives. Our search results will be objective and we will not accept payment for inclusion or ranking in them.
• We will do our best to provide the most relevant and useful advertising. Whenever someone pays for something, we will make it clear to our users. Advertisements should not be an annoying interruption.
• We will never stop working to improve our user experience, our search technology and other important areas of information organization.

We believe that our user focus is the foundation of our success to date. We also believe that this focus is critical for the creation of long-term value. We do not intend to compromise our user focus for short-term economic gain.

Google made 8 billion in profit last quarter. To claim that they've plateau'd in their growth is ridiculous. Apple and Microsoft have been in China for some time and it would be foolish for Google, from a business perspective, to not do business in one the biggest markets in the world.

They've plateaud while sticking to their values. This growth is coming at the cost of what originally made them great. It may be that times have changed - but it's more likely the MBAs are just milking it and slowly squeezing out the original magic. Eventually the patient dies.

They earned 6 billion more in Q2 2018 than they did in Q2 2017. Like I said, to suggest they've plateaued while sticking to their values is ridiculous.

Alphabet reported revenue of $26.24 billion after accounting for traffic-acquisition costs, up from $20.91 billion in the second quarter of 2017 and higher than the average analyst estimate of $25.58 billion.

I assume that once Google has made investments in China which it does not wish to risk losing due to state interference, we can expect the Chinese government to start asking them to censor search results in western countries which indicate that Taiwan is a sovereign nation?